We must see that in the new man there is no place for religious ordinances. When we began to meet in the early sixties in Los Angeles to have the church life, some people complained to me that in our meetings we did not have the gifts. I told them that our meetings were full of the gifts. First Corinthians 12 tells us that the top gift to the church is the word of wisdom and the second is the word of knowledge (v. 8). Another dear brother who loved the Lord very much came to me and said that he appreciated our meetings. His only problem was that he could not tolerate the sisters speaking in the meetings. He highly appraised me for my knowledge of the Bible, but he said I was mistaken in allowing the sisters to speak in the meeting. I asked him whether or not the sisters sang hymns in the meetings that he attended. When he responded that they did, I told him that even in his meetings the sisters were not silent because they sang the hymns. According to the truth of the Scriptures, women can pray and prophesy in the meetings (1 Cor. 11:5), but they are not permitted to teach as an authority, defining doctrine (1 Tim. 2:12).
These examples will help to show us that religious matters can divide Christians. One particular group was even divided over whether to have a piano or an organ in their meetings. Eventually one group was a piano assembly, and the other group was an organ assembly. All these are in the same category as circumcision and uncircumcision, religious or nonreligious. I am not for a piano assembly or for an organ assembly. I am for the new man.
We need to be renewed in our mind not just for our personal, ethical behavior, but for the one new man. Many Christians today still hold on to their natural, religious, and individual concepts because they will not let the Spirit spread into their mind. They do not let the Spirit take over their mind. We all need to open ourselves up to the Lord and pray, “Lord, I am here. I want my mind to be fully opened to You. Come in and fill me up. Permeate, saturate, and possess my entire inward being.” I believe if we would pray to the Lord in such a way, the Spirit would have a way to permeate our mind. When the Spirit permeates our mind, the ordinances are over. When the Spirit has possessed and saturated our mind, we will not care for black, white, Chinese, Japanese, American, British, German, French, Italian, or Spanish. We will not care whether the meeting is noisy or quiet. We will only care for the one new man.
By the Lord’s sovereignty, due to this modern scientific age and the political situation, the globe has been made small. Many different peoples have been brought together. This is the Lord’s doing. Despite the Lord’s bringing so many cultures and races together, there is still so much division in religion. In the United States, it is possible to see a Chinese Presbyterian Church and a Korean Presbyterian Church. It is also possible to see the Anglican Church in the United States. We must realize, however, that the church is the new man. Even though in this modern era so many races and peoples have been brought together, people still like to keep themselves divided. To keep ourselves divided from other Christians because of religious ordinances is to be conformed to this age because this age is one of division. To cause division is to be conformed to this age. We need to interpret Romans 12:2 in the way of not being conformed to this age of division. We Christians are one. Whether we are American, British, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, or Japanese, the Lord has made us one. No natural person has any place in the one new man.
The only way the one new man can be realized practically is by our minds being renewed. The one new man cannot be realized by our being corrected or taught but by the Spirit of God permeating our mentality. When the element of God gets into our mentality, we will think as He thinks; we will see things the way He does; and we will consider the situation as He does. It is then that the one new man will come into existence. There will be no races, no social ranks, and no religious differences. Christ will truly be all and in all. I believe that this is the up-to-date vision of the Lord’s move on this earth. The Lord is moving on to get the one new man.
The Lord prophesied in Matthew 16:18 that He would build His church. Whatever the Lord has prophesied must be fulfilled. Without the practical existence of the new man, the building up of the church may be vain talk. The building of the church depends upon the existence of the new man. If the new man comes into existence, no doubt, the builded church is here. Regardless of the present situation of division, the Lord is going to get the new man. Everything that the Lord is doing in this present age is to usher in the practical existence of the one new man. To drop our natural, religious concepts, our mind needs to be saturated, permeated, possessed, and taken over by our mingled spirit. Then our concepts will be fully revolutionized and we will no longer have any ordinances. The new man will then come into existence. This is the Lord’s move on the earth today.
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